After another year of television, it is time to return to the prestigious Emmy Awards to see the winners of the 2024-2025 television season. I have a lot to say about them, so let’s get to it, starting with:
The Host (and the gimmick)
I haven’t seen Nate Bargatze much, and after watching this award ceremony, that will probably stay the same. He wasn’t really bad; he was funny, and he did an alright job at hosting. His idea of a fun “gimmick” to shorten speeches was to literally take money away from the Boys & Girls Club of America if the winners didn’t stop talking. By the end of the night, the total was negative $60,000, proving this was a bad idea all along. If the point of an award show is to actually see people win and get accolades for their hard work, then the least we should be able to do is let them speak for more than two minutes to thank people. I sincerely hope they don’t do this pointless gimmick again and get someone funnier next time, like Seth Rogen in:
Comedy
Apple TV+’s “The Studio” broke the record for most wins ever by a comedy series. Rogen won big, personally winning Outstanding Lead Actor, Outstanding Direction with co-creator Evan Goldberg, Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Comedy Series with the rest of the creative team. I’m personally glad that “The Studio” won, and hope that it gives many more people an insight into the politics behind creating cinema. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbender won, respectively, Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actress for their performances in last year’s comedy series winner “Hacks” and Jeff Hiller won Outstanding Supporting Actor for “Somebody Somewhere” in an upset over the legendary Harrison Ford.
Limited
Even though Netflix’s sweep with “Adolescence” was undeniable, I still found myself surprised when co-creator Stephen Graham won for Outstanding Lead Actor against the widely predicted Colin Farrell. Other than Outstanding Lead Actress, which went to Cristin Milioti for “The Penguin,” “Adolescence” won every single category. Erin Moriarty won for Outstanding Supporting Actress and Owen Cooper made history at 15 as the youngest man to ever win the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Still, the sweep from “Adolescence” was not the most predicted event of the night; instead was:
Outstanding Talk Show
The loudest reaction from the audience and probably the most undeniable category this night was Stephen Colbert finally winning the Emmy for outstanding talk series for The Late Show, just after CBS pulled the plug. Even his fellow nominee Jimmy Kimmel, who himself was recently silenced for speaking out against right-wing politicians, devoted his “For Your Consideration” spots to telling people to vote for Colbert. His speech was also impactful, with him stating that he still loves America and telling people to stay brave. With this being a more serious note for this category, we should move to:
Drama
The biggest winner for the night was definitely HBO Max, winning Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor for Noah Wyle, and Outstanding Supporting Actress for Katherine LaNasa, which were all wholly well deserved. After having just binged the entirety of “The Pitt” in four days, I can agree with the Television Academy’s decision on this category, and my full review for the series will come soon. The second season of Apple TV+’s “Severance” also picked up two wins: Tramel Tillman for Outstanding Supporting Actor and Britt Lower for Outstanding Lead Actress. “Slow Horses” won for Outstanding Direction, and the biggest upset of the entire night was the second season of “Andor” winning for Outstanding Writing. I am of the opinion that “Andor” is one of the best television shows of the last 10 years, and having Dan Gilroy win for writing Mon Mothma’s excellent monologue in episode nine will age exceedingly well.
Final Thoughts
With great winners across all of the categories still prevailing over a poor gimmick, the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards still managed to be a compelling watch. If any of these shows caught your interest, I would implore you to check them out for yourself.
